Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps (2024)

Where did you get that Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snap? Recreate this fictional favorite recipe from the popular movie Fantastic Mr. Fox and you’ll be as infamous as Mrs. Bean.

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If you’re a Fantastic Mr. Fox fan, you definitely know about these cookies!

I originally recreated them for my daughter’s third birthday. This has been our favorite family movie since she was a baby, so it was really fun to enjoy some food inspired by it!

If you’re not familiar with the plot, a fox, who used to take food from farmers for a living, is now married with a child and working as a newspaper man.

I won’t spoil the whole movie for you, but after a while he gets the itch to start grabbing chickens again, and after a lot of shenanigans we come face to face with one farmer’s wife, Mrs. Bean.

What are nutmeg ginger apple snaps?

In the movie Fantastic Mr. Fox, one of the antagonists, Mrs. Bean, always has a plate of her famous nutmeg ginger apple snaps sitting out. They’re an irresistible cookie that gets more than one character into trouble.

They’re basically a big, spiced cookie topped with an apple slice and plenty of sparkly sugar.

The cookies I made turned out large and strangely indulgent. There is a lot of butter in this recipe and plenty of fall spice.

The sugar within the cookies is minimal but there’s a lot sprinkled on top. I was happy with how authentic they looked and everyone that had one thought they were great.

Nutmeg ginger apple snap ingredients

Butter
Granulated sugar
Brown sugar
Molasses
Fresh ginger
Ground ginger
Vanilla extract
Nutmeg
Cloves
Flour
Eggs
Salt
Apples
Coarse sugar and/or cake sparkles

How to make nutmeg ginger apple snaps

In an electric mixer, cream butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, molasses, and fresh ginger and mix until fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
In a bowl, combine flour and spices.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three parts on low speed until fully blended.
Roll 2-3 tablespoons of dough into balls, flatten out with your hand, and top each cookie with a thin apple slice.
Sprinkle with coarse sugar
Bake at 325ºF for 15-25 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are crisp and the edges are lightly browned.
Sprinkle with cake sparkles and additional coarse sugar if desired and allow to cool completely.

Top tips

Should I refrigerate the dough?

It isn’t necessary to refrigerate the dough. However, refrigeration can help intensify the flavors and create a puffier cookie.

What kind of sugar is on top?

I topped these cookies with a combination of coarse sugar and cake sparkles for the photos, and I used turbinado sugar in the video. If you only have regular granulated sugar you can definitely use that, they just won’t be as sparkly.

I added the sugar both before and after baking, but you could choose to do one or the other if you want to cut down on the amount of sugar you’re consuming.

What kind of apples should I use?

You can use any apple you would use in baking. I liked Gala apples for these cookies, but I think Fuji, Braeburn, or Honeycrisp would be great as well.

How do you slice the apples?

Be sure to slice the apples horizontally to get the pretty core. I do this by grabbing a medium sized serrated knife, turning the apple on it’s side, and slicing it thinly.

More Mr. Fox fun

Keep scrolling below the recipe to see the Fantastic Mr. Fox cake I created for Lola’s birthday! I also used gold edible pens to draw stars on apples for the party. It was very whimsical!

More cookie recipes

Giant Ginger Cookies
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Christmas Cut Out Cookies
Buttery Bourbon Cherry Cookies
Whole Wheat Chocolate Fudge Cookies
Spicy Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

If you make this recipe, be sure to rate it, leave a comment, or tag #theliveinkitchen onInstagram!

This post was updated in October 2021 with new photos, a video, and a few changes to improve the consistency of the recipe. See recipe notes for instructions on the original recipe.

Recipe

Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps

A large spiced apple cookie just like the ones in the movie Fantastic Mr. Fox

3.95 from 296 votes

Ingredients

▢ 4 cups all-purpose flour
▢ 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more for topping if desired
▢ 2 teaspoons ground ginger
▢ 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
▢ 1 pinch ground cloves
▢ 1 pinch salt
▢ 2 cups butter, softened
▢ ½ cup granulated sugar
▢ 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
▢ 2 Tablespoons molasses
▢ 1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger root
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 2 eggs
▢ 4 gala apples
▢ Organic refined sugar and cake sparkles for sprinkling, or any coarse sugar, like turbinado

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until light.
Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, molasses, and fresh ginger and beat until fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until fully blended.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three parts, carefully and on low speed, until the ingredients are fully blended.
Working in batches as necessary, roll 2-3 Tablespoons of dough into balls and use your hand to flatten them on the prepared cookie sheet about ¼ inch high and 2 inches apart.
Slice the apples as thinly as you can (crosswise so you can see the star of the core in the middle) and press slices firmly into the center of each cookie. Sprinkle coarse sugar and extra cinnamon evenly over cookies to coat, making sure to cover the edges.
Bake 20 minutes or until the edges are golden. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with more sugar, if desired, and cake sparkles. Let cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @theliveinkitchen or tag #theliveinkitchen!

Lola also requested a Mr. Fox cake.

I spent a long time trying to figure out what it should look like to put Mr. Fox on a cake. I landed on baking a cake in a football shaped pan and cutting it into the shape of his head.

I used a cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen and a frosting recipe from I Am Baker. I’m obviously no cake decorator, but I placed the frosting in zip top bags and used knives to spread it around until it looked a little bit like Mr. Fox. Overall, I was pretty happy with the outcome.